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NYPD, Microsoft create crime-fighting tech system

Colleen Long

Surveillance tactics ... a video wall shows New York police officers an interactive map of the city. Photo: AP

New York: A 911 call comes in about a possible bomb in lower Manhattan and an alert pops up on computer screens at the New York Police Department, instantly showing officers an interactive map of the neighbourhood, footage from nearby security cameras, whether there are high radiation levels and whether any other threats have been made against the city.

In just one click, police know exactly what they're getting into.

It was created by cops for cops.

Jessica Tisch, counterterrorism unit

Such a hypothetical scenario may seem like something out of a futuristic crime drama, but the technology is real, developed in a partnership between the US's largest police department and Microsoft, and the latest version has been quietly in use for about a year.

The project could pay off in more ways than one: the NYPD could make tens of millions of dollars under an unprecedented marketing deal that allows Microsoft to sell the system to other law enforcement agencies and civilian companies around the world. The city will get a 30 per cent cut.

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The Domain Awareness System, known as the dashboard, gives easy access to the police department's voluminous arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3000 security cameras citywide, number plate readers and portable radiation detectors. This is all public data – not additional surveillance.

Right now, it is used only in NYPD offices, mostly in the counterterrorism unit. Eventually, the system could supply crime-fighting information in real time to officers on laptops in their squad cars and on mobile devices while they walk the beat.

A video wall shows New York police officers an interactive map of an area in the city. Photo: AP

"It works incredibly well," said Jessica Tisch, director of planning and policy for the counterterrorism unit.

For example, officers used the system during a deadly shooting outside the Empire State Building in August. Dozens of 911 calls were coming in, and it initially looked like an attack staged by several gunmen. But officers mapped the information and pulled up cameras within 500 feet of the reported shots to determine there was only one shooter.

Analysts are cautious about the potential profits, saying that largely depends on Microsoft's sales efforts and whether any major competition arises. While there are other data-drilling products made by other companies, they say the NYPD's involvement could set the dashboard apart.

"This is the kind of stuff you used to only see in movies," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle, a technology analysis firm. "Getting it to work in a way that police departments can use in real time is huge."

The venture began in 2009 when the NYPD approached Microsoft about building software to help mine data for the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, a network of private and public cameras and other tools monitored by the department's counterterrorism bureau. Development cost the department between $US30 million and $US40 million, officials said.

"Usually, you purchase software that you try to work with, but we wanted this to be something that really worked well for us, so we set about creating it with them," said Richard Daddario, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism.

Officers were involved throughout the process with the programmers, offering advice on what they need during an emergency.

"It was created by cops for cops," Tisch said. "We thought a lot about what information we want up close and personal, and what needs to be a click away. It's all baked in there."

The system uses hundreds of thousands of pieces of information. Security camera footage can be rewound five minutes so that officers can see suspects who may have fled. Sensors pick up whether a bag has been left sitting for a while. When an emergency call comes in, officers can check prior 911 calls from that address to see what they might be up against.

Prospective clients can customise it to fit their organisation.

Dave Mosher, a Microsoft vice president in charge of program management, said the company started to market the system in August and is looking at smaller municipalities, law enforcement agencies and companies that handle major sporting events.

He would not say whether any clients have been lined up and would not give details on the price except to say that it would depend on how much customisation must be done.

Shawn McCarthy, an analyst with research firm IDC, described the partnership – and outcome – as unusual in the tech world. "I see huge potential, but so much depends on the price and competition," he said.

No firm timetable has been set on when the dashboard will be rolled out to the entire 34,000-officer department.

8 comments so far

ANyway, I wonder if they're going to integrate with Kinect in the future. True Minority Report style policing!

Commenter

c1ee

Date and time

February 23, 2013, 2:22PM

I doubt things have changed since I was in the business, the main ingredients for a successful IT project are a good project manager, knowledgeable, coherent user groups to determine and drive the scope of requirements which are properly prioritised and placed into various categories such as compulsory functionality, without which it wouldn't work as required, handy functionality to make it easier and the bells and whistles which are the would like to haves but it will work without them. As always, it's garbage in and garbage out. If the data being mined is garbage or as it often happens due to lack of coherent design varies, with the right systems analyst it can be pulled together.The actual writing of good software has very little to do with programmers as long as the scope of works has been properly set out mediocre programmers can do the job and often do. While it all works best with good programmers (more efficient code means less system overhead), the proof of the pudding ends up being in the eating so the final phase of the user groups ends up being their involvement in the user testing to make sure it looks and feels and functions the way they envisioned.The most important ingredient of a successfully completed IT project is that the users own it. By that I mean, seeing it was their baby that it looks, acts and feels the way they envisioned it would.

Commenter

Zjonn

Location

Kwinana

Date and time

February 23, 2013, 4:46PM

I certainly wouldn't. The other day my Windows PC shat itself and I couldn't use the mouse or keyboard until after rebooting; rather inconvenient when you are in the middle of running a webinar!

Now Outlook won't let me change an address from xyz.com.au to xyz.com, despite clearing the address cache, so I am unable to send emails to one particular customer; I have to send them to someone else to forward on to him.

Truly magnificent stuff, and they expect to catch terrorists with this sort of software? Good luck!

Commenter

Robert

Location

Canberra

Date and time

February 23, 2013, 6:10PM

At the cut rate M$oft is providing it for how could you say no? It's the only way they'd get in the door.

Commenter

Anonymous

Date and time

February 24, 2013, 3:16AM

big brother is watching.

Commenter

olly

Location

sydney

Date and time

February 23, 2013, 11:03AM

MS needs all the cred that it can buy. Free plugs like this don't hurt either.

Commenter

X-ray Charlie X-ray

Location

Mooroolbark

Date and time

February 23, 2013, 3:39PM

What OS do they use Windows 8? What happens when it gets hacked, wait NOBODY hacks Microsoft!

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